Joshua 4:1-14

Piling up stones was often a covenant ritual in the ancient Near East. [Note: G. Herbert Livingston, The Pentateuch in its Cultural Environment, p. 157.] It was a common method of preserving the memory of important events (cf. Genesis 8:20; Genesis 12:7; Genesis 35:7; et al.).

There were apparently two piles of 12 stones each, one at Gilgal (Joshua 4:3-8; Joshua 4:20) and one in the Jordan River bed (Joshua 4:9). Some scholars believe there was only one pile of stones, which the NIV translation also suggests. [Note: E.g., Hess, p. 109.] The Israelites probably constructed two memorials because the crossing was so miraculous that God wanted to be sure their children and the Canaanites believed it really happened. The monument at Gilgal probably consisted of large stones that people could not normally remove from the riverbed. Building a monument in the river was impossible under normal circumstances due to the volume and current of the water there. Thus the Israelite children and the Canaanites had a double proof, two witnesses, of God’s faithfulness and power. God specified 12 stones for each monument to represent the 12 tribes.

"No certain identification exists for the site of ’the Gilgal’. It is not necessary or even likely that all the occurrences of Gilgal in the Bible refer to the same location. The name means ’circle’, and is a good description for a fortified camp such as must have been present in Joshua’s time." [Note: Ibid., p. 115.]

"It is doubtful whether there was either city or town in that place before the arrival of the Israelites." [Note: Bush, p. 52.]